nyaw nyaw

"No. What makes it hurt?" For her fifth birthday, Sofia had received a toy doctor set: well-made child sized tools in a cloth bag. This had exactly the result Cameron had been hoping for: Sofia's favorite game lately was doctor. However...

"Could be gas, cramps, constipation..." Cameron eyes her daughter, who frowns downward, chin still tucked up on the back of the loveseat, hands framing her cheeks. "Pancreatitis?"

"What's that?"

"Your pancreas helps your tummy digest foods. Pancreatitis is an illness that means it isn't working right."

Sofia hums thoughtfully, raising and lowering herself on her toes. "Can you die?"

"No, a doctor will fix it." Cameron tries not to sigh, closing her book on her thumb.

"What if they don't fix it?" the little girl asks patiently.

"You could die," Cameron allows.

"How?" Sofia asks, looking up at her mother with narrowed eyes.

"The sickness could spread to other organs, which could cause them to fail, and you could die from that," Cameron says slowly. "But that never happens, because doctors like me and --"

"Okay thank you!" Sofia launches herself away from the loveseat, already trotting off towards her bedroom.

Cameron sighs and slowly lifts herself from couch to follow. Sofia's room is a mess of toys and books, and Chase is lying on the floor with a pillow under his head when Cameron makes it to the doorway. Sofia is rummaging through her doctor's bag for a plastic toy syringe. "You have pan-cre-a-titus," she says carefully. "You're dying."

Chase's eyebrows go up. "I thought I had a stomach ache?"

"Yep. You're dying of it. All your organs are failed." Sofia briskly gives him a fake shot.

"So what did you just give me? Medicine?"

"Yeah, but it's not working. My mom said."

Chase looks over at Cameron in the doorway, eyes wide and alarmed. She tries not to laugh as she meets his eye, shrugging as gravely as she can manage as Sofia checks Chase's heartbeat. "There's no treatment at all?" Chase asks the little girl.

"Nope." Sofia gives him another shot.

"But I feel so much better," Chase teases. "I think the medicine's working."